Ever since her mom left her family, Samantha Wesson had been a completely different person. She used to have a very promising future, she got good grades, she had a good group of friends, and she even volunteered at the homeless shelter five days a week. But now she’s started drinking, doing drugs, smoking, hanging out with the wrong group of people, and she dropped out of school in her sophomore year. She cut her long brown hair and dyed it a dark purple color, she pierced her eyebrows, lip, nose, and her ear so many times you could barely see the skin. Her already pale skin had gotten even more pale, and her bright blue eyes had become so dull they looked more grey than blue. Her dad has all but given up on her, he is scared for her sake and her younger brother Dean, who is only about three years younger than her, because he doesn’t want him to end up like Sam did. He has tried everything, grounding her, taking away her phone, and sending her to rehab, but nothing has worked. If anything, it has just gotten worse. That was all about two years ago.
*****
The last thing Sam could remember was leaving the party with her best friends Max and Alec. She knew they shouldn’t have been driving but Max said that if her mom found the car gone she would freak. They all had had a little too much to drink but Alec had had the least so they all decided that he should drive. On the way back, she was in the passenger seat trying to find a good radio station to put on while Max was in the back giggling about a remark Alec had said about Sam being indecisive. They were coming to a stop sign and Alec was slowing down but never came to a complete stop, that is until a UPS truck hit them square on. The car spun out of control down the almost abandoned street, eventually wrapping itself around a telephone pole then the pole fell on top of the car, trapping them. Sam could hear the muffled sirens and feel a blinding pain in her leg, making her see nothing but white. She could feel the blood flowing down her forehead like a waterfall. She could hear the paramedic trying to open the door, and Max screaming and crying to be let out. When they finally got the door of a paramedic put her on a gurney, talking to her trying to keep her awake. She could see Alec to her right talking to a police officer, trying to tell him what happened, but his words were too slurred and jumbled to make any sense. She looked to her left to see Max crying into another paramedic’s neon yellow jacket. The paramedics slowly lifted the gurney on to the ambulance and closed the doors. She started to feel dizzy from blood loss. When they arrived at the hospital she heard the nurses yelling and telling her to stay awake but she had become too weak to keep her eyes open anymore so she closed her eyes and everything went black.
When she woke up the first thing she felt was the dull ache in her head and the sharp pain in her leg. She tried to it up and get off the bed but a strong hand held her back.
“Hey Sammy, how you feeling” her dad asked noticing her movement, causing her brother to look up from the game he was playing on his phone and run over to her and give her a bone crushing hug. Sam grunted in pain making Dean back away fast with an apologetic grin.
“Besides the splitting head ache and broken leg, just great” she replied sarcastically. “How is everyone else?” she asked slightly trying to mask the worry in her voice.
“Well” her dad started, trying to find the right words. “Alec has been arrested for suspicion of DUI and Max just had a broken wrist and a cut on her head so she got sent home a while ago”
Sam felt slightly relived that she was the only one seriously hurt but she also felt guilty about Alec being arrested when she knew that none of them had even thought of driving. Her thoughts were interrupted when the doctor came in and was talking to her dad.
“She has a broken femur bone and slight head trauma,” he started, slightly distracted by something else on the clipboard. “She can go tomorrow morning. We just want to make sure everything is in order.”
“Thank you doctor” her dad said with relief evident in his voice. As the doctor left the room Sam looked up at her dad, expecting him to start yelling at her like he always did when she did stuff like this. It has happened so much that she had stopped caring that he was upset, it didn’t matter to her how he punished her, she could always find a way around it. But it never came instead her dad just looked at her with sorrow filled eyes.
“I’m going to get some food from the cafeteria, you guys want anything?” her dad asked walking towards the door.
“I’m good” Dean muttered.
“Anything’s fine for me” Sam answered. As their dad left the room, Dean walked towards her bed taking small steps almost as if he were too scared that if he walked to fast or loud she would shatter.
“Why do you do this to yourself?” Dean quavered so softly she almost couldn’t hear it.
“What do you mean?” she hissed back at him in a venomous way.
“Why do you do this” he gestured to her body that had bruises covering almost every inch of her skin. Sam sunk down into the hospital bed hopping to disappear, not wanting to have this conversation right now.
“Do you think this is what mom would have wanted you to be like!” Dean raged, the softness and worry in his tone no longer there.
“Mom didn’t care, why would have she left if she cared about any one of us!” Sam fumed.
“Yeah mom did leave us, but that doesn’t give you the right to become just like her! Distance yourself from everyone that cares about you and treat yourself like trash!” Dean shouted, tears threating to spill from his eyes.
Sam had never thought about it that way, she had always thought she was doing her family a favor by trying to step out of their life. She thought that since her mom left her that she wasn’t good enough for her own family and that she didn’t deserve them. But, looking up at her younger brother, who was pleading for her to come back, she finally realized how truly awful she had been to them.
“I’m sorry” was all Sam could say through her tears as she reached for her brother and pulled him into loving embrace. “I swear that I will change for you and for dad” she cried choking back tears.
“Thank you” Dean said into Sam’s shoulder. Thinking back Sam promised herself that she would get better, if not for her then for her little brother.